1) Bruce - One superbowl in Rams history - Bruce had the biggest play in Rams history turning an interception ball into a touchdown with the great adjustment. He played well with bad teams or good teams, when he was the only target, or when he had to share with multiple targets, and the #2 all time in receiving yards at the time of his retirement behind the 2nd best player in NFL history, Jerry Rice, at the time of his retirement is an eye opener.
2) Donald - Some of this is projection because he is still in the mid part of his career, but he dominates every game and requires a complete game plan to account for him.
3) Mike Martz - He injected such a burst of energy into an offense that was anemic and so many players played so much better with Martz than without Martz. that to me is the highlight of being a great coach, maximizing players abilities. Going from last to first in offense in 1999 and near last to #1 in the conference in Defense in 2001 were 2 of the most remarkable turnarounds in sports history. The Rams were 45-99 before Martz and 0 playoffs in 10 years, and than went to the playoffs 5 of 6 seasons with Martz, and than missed the playoffs another 10 years before the recent team.
4) Eric Dickerson - He played great where he was the only weapon of the offense which is why I give him a small advantage over Marshall Faulk. Faulk 1999-2001 seasons. Much of Faulk's success was the coaching of Martz gave him so much space to work his magic and the weapons around him to protect him and give him so many one on one situations.
5) Marshall Faulk - Although Dickerson gets the slight edge, he still put up 3 monster seasons. His fall off was bad knees and wasn't the same back after 2001.
6) Kurt Warner - greatest story in the NFL with his underdog status, but having only 3 great seasons as a Ram hurts him. health was a major issue of this 4 or 5 years of after that 2001 season.
7) Dick Vermeil - While I think Martz football coaching was the straw that stirred the drink, Vermeil's leadership cannot be downplayed.
Yes 5 of the 7 are from the 1999, 2001 era, because they were the best teams and probably the most entertaining teams in NFL history.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2020 11:29AM by Rams_81.
